


Money Ain't a Thing when I Got Him

by LittleLalaith



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Highschool AU, M/M, TW: Bullying and Homophobic Language, tw: poverty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27251455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLalaith/pseuds/LittleLalaith
Summary: When Connor and Niles move to the school, Gavin doesn't expect either of them to take any notice of him. He's poor and dressed in washed-out clothes, so there's no reason for the rich twins to even glance his way.But Niles does... and he likes what he sees.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 14
Kudos: 142





	Money Ain't a Thing when I Got Him

As Gavin made his way through the school gate, he braced himself and tried to ignore the inevitable stares. With jeans that rode up his ankles because he'd outgrown them more than six months ago, a t-shirt so over-washed that the original 'Whitesnake' emblem had long since faded into obscurity, and a backpack that was held together with safety pins and a wish, he had no trouble understanding why half the school referred to him as 'Washout'. At least, the nicer ones called him Washout. Perkins and his asshole cronies called him 'Gavin Reek' or 'Trashrat'. He just hoped that by some miracle they'd leave him alone today, he wasn't in the mood and he was likely to throw fists if they tried him.

Keeping hold of Elijah's hand, he walked his younger brother to the elementary school section of the campus and dropped him off, making sure he had his lunch bag and books before letting him go inside. Gavin had given Eli the last of the bread for his sandwiches and settled on just having a few saltine crackers for himself - he needed to go shopping, but he didn't get paid from the garage until Friday, so he'd have to get creative until then. Of course, if their Dad hadn't spent his entire Unemployment cheque on booze and blow, then they'd have enough food for a few more days. But asking him to stop was like trying to stop a storm from raining on a specific house - impossible, and ultimately a wasted effort if you tried.

By the time he got to Home Room, he was a little late; but Miss Stokes said nothing and let him file into his seat near the back of the class. She knew why he was late in the mornings, so she didn't get on his case... and Gavin appreciated that. Even if she couldn't really do much to help, it was reassuring to know that she understood. The last thing he needed was to get into shit with the school. If he got detention then no-one would be able to pick Eli up and walk him home.

"Ugh, it's you. For a second there, I thought we were gonna have a Reek-free day," Perkins' voice hissed somewhere to his left. Gavin determinedly fixed his gaze on the board, pressing down the first wave of rage as best he could. "Hey, I'm talking to you, Trashrat. What's the matter? Can't hear through all the dirt in your ears?"

Gavin imagined forcing Perkins' face into a slurry of bin juice, dreamed about pressing his boot to the back of his head and drowning him in it. But the anger didn't subside. He heard Perkins nudging his mates and gearing up for another taunt when the general chatter of the classroom was broken by Miss Stokes' call for attention. The class hushed and Gavin risked a look at Perkins, catching the sneer he threw Gavin's way before looking to the front of the class.

Gavin wondered how he'd look with a few less teeth.

"Ok, settle down. As you might have noticed, we have a pair of new faces in class this morning. I'd like you to extend a warm welcome to Connor and Niles Stern; they've recently moved over from England, so I expect you to help them as they get settled in," the teacher announced and Gavin frowned a little. He hadn't noticed the new kids when he walked into the classroom, but then again, he'd skulked in pretty quickly and avoided looking at the rest of the class as much as possible. 

He watched as the new students stood up at the front of the class, dressed in immaculate shirts that sported some kind of fancy label on the breast. The one wore chinos and smiled a little more than the other, who had opted for dark jeans that clung sinfully close to his legs. Gavin could feel his cheeks warming up in a blush and he forced himself to look away, not daring to let Perkins catch sight of him staring at another guy - he had enough problems to deal with, he didn't want to give that asshole more ammunition. But he couldn't stop himself looking back at the taller of the two - they were clearly twins but there were a few differences between them; the one introduced as Connor had dark eyes while Niles had blue; Niles was taller and seemed a little stockier around the shoulders, while Connor seemed to have a rounder face and softer features. Niles was hot, but his appearance also screamed 'money'... which meant that Gavin didn't have a chance.

When Miss Stokes asked for a volunteer to buddy up with them for classes, Perkins 'very generously' raised his hand but Miss Stokes seemed to sense his ulterior motives and paired the twins with Chris instead. Gavin was relieved, not sure he'd be able to cope if Perkins added more lackeys to his gang.

For his own sake, he'd leave the twins alone. They wouldn't want to spend time with a guy like him and he wouldn't be able to afford to do the kind of things they probably did... so it was best to keep a distance. Besides, he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to hold a conversation with Niles without getting a boner. He didn't often allow himself to get crushes, it wasn't safe. But he couldn't help himself when he saw Niles smile at Chris.

He was screwed...

-

Classes were as difficult as ever. Gavin wasn't stupid, he knew he wasn't. But his mind kept drifting to other things - like how he was going to afford Eli's new glasses when he went to the opticians on Sunday, or how they were even going to get there without a car. He started writing out a financial plan but was told off for not paying attention, and by that point he'd completely lost track of the lesson. Something about Lincoln... who cared, Lincoln wasn't going to put food on the damn table.

Workshop was better, he could focus on his own thing in workshop and thinking things over while his hands were busy. Unfortunately, it was also a class that gave Perkins ample opportunity to throw things at him, or 'accidentally' bump into his project as he passed. The second time Perkins' flat-pancake ass knocked the project onto the floor, Gavin balled his fists and had to count to ten about seven times before picking it up again. All the while, Perkins made a display of spewing insincere apologies so that he wouldn't get called out by the teacher. Gavin counted. And counted. And breathed.

"Here," a voice said from somewhere on his left.

Gavin opened his eyes and saw Niles crouched at his side, picking up the pieces and placing them delicately back on the workbench.

"Oh, uh.. thanks. I..." Gavin started, taken off guard.

"This looks pretty intricate. Will you be able to fix it?"

Looking at the pieces, Gavin tried to assess the damage. Thankfully, it had mostly just fallen apart at the main seams, so all of the fiddly details should just move back into place once he secured the outer components again. Although, it looked like one of the wooden gears had broken and rolled off somewhere, he'd have to make another one and hope he could install it without setting the others off-kilter.

"Uh, yeah. I should be able to," Gavin nodded, tensing a little as Niles leaned in to examine the device. He was so close, and Gavin was suddenly petrified that his shirt wasn't fresh, or that his deodorant might be failing him or that Niles might notice the scar along his nose, or...

"Is it a dollhouse?" Niles asked, no sign of mockery in his tone.

"Sort of. It's a ghost house, like the ones you see at the fair. Look," Gavin explained, taking the wooden peg from his collection of pieces and placing it in the hole at the start of the track. As he pushed the panel along the track, the mechanism under the platform pressed against gears and activated pop-ups or moving components as it passed. They were very basic at the moment, none of them painted until he got the mechanisms working smoothly, but the idea was coming along. "I'm gonna make a little bumper car to attach the peg to, and decorate the panels to have ghosts and stuff."

"This is amazing," Niles praised, and Gavin knew for a fact that his face was red. He dared to check the classroom for any sign of Perkins and was relieved to find that he was screwing around with the sand belt. Gavin hoped he lost a damn fingertip. "Did you make this all by yourself?"

"Yup, just me. Folks don't usually want to pair up with me so..."

When Niles looked at him, Gavin wasn't sure how to read his expression. He seemed surprised, dubious, maybe even a little upset. "Well, I can't really start a whole new project this close to the end of term, and the alternative is textbook study for the next four weeks. Mind if I help? I'm a dab hand at painting."

Gavin looked at him, a little stunned by the offer. A suspicious part of his mind reminded him that Niles was probably just trying to take pity on him. Rich kids did that a lot, tried to do something 'charitable' for the 'poor kids' around them... but Niles didn't have that sympathetic smile that made Gavin's teeth grind. He was just... Smiling. Neutral, friendly. 

"Look, you're new. You don't know the politics of this place yet," Gavin sighed, wanting to give Niles fair warning before he doomed himself to a semester of bullying and torment. "You don't want to hang out with someone like me, even if it's just for classwork stuff. I'm not exactly the most popular guy in school, so you're ruining your chances if you stick around with me too long."

Niles frowned slightly, analysing something in Gavin's features before glancing out at the rest of the class. Gavin didn't blame him if he was weighing up his options, the last thing he wanted was for Niles to be stuck at the bottom of the damn food chain just because he made a bad call when picking his friends. But Niles made a 'hm' sound and looked back to Gavin, searching for something. Gavin gave him a minute then asked, "What?"  
"I'm just trying to figure out why you're not more popular," Niles stated matter-of-factly, his accent making the sentence sound oddly formal. "You're better looking than most of the guys in here, you've got a nice voice, and you're clearly talented. So, why wouldn't people want to talk to you?"

Gavin looked at him, caught somewhere between shock, gratitude and bashfulness. Niles had said that he was good looking. The hot new guy said he was good looking! He huffed a soft laugh, unable to suppress a grin. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. So what's everyone's deal?" Niles asked, apparently determined to understand.

"I'm... I mean," Gavin gestured to his poorly fitting clothes and the washed out quality of his shirt. "I'm not exactly keeping up with the latest Fall fashions or whatever. People see me as an easy mark coz my family's poor."

Niles nodded slowly, taking his in for a moment. Gavin wondered if Niles knew what it was like to have no money. Not to the same extent as Gavin, where 'his' money represented the whole household income, but whether he'd ever had no pocket money or had to save for something with money he'd earned at a job. He wouldn't judge him if not, it wasn't Niles' fault if his family was rich. It was just one of those strange universes that could stretch between two people, making their lives fundamentally different.

"Well, I'm not interested in robbing you, so I don't really care whether you have money or not," Niles winked, and Gavin felt something warming in his chest.

Unfortunately, that warmth quickly turned to bile as Perkins' voice cut through the conversation, "Is this your new boyfriend, Reek? Or are you trying to get a Sugar Daddy to pay for your real Daddy's crack habit?"

Gavin wanted to break each of Perkins' bones individually and leave him in a ditch. He had known that this was going to happen. He knew that the second the power balance changed, the second someone tried to take his side or just spend some fucking time with him, Perkins would be on his ass like a goddamn dog to a bone. He didn't want Niles to go through this. He didn't want to subject the bullying he faced onto someone else by proxy.

But Niles simply looked at Perkins with those cool grey-blue eyes and waited. Perkins tried to laugh it off, the way that bullies always would; asking if Niles was blind, if he was deaf, asking him what he was looking at, asking if he was thick... until Niles took out his phone and started typing something up. Perkins, not understanding what Niles was doing, started to grow nervous. And Gavin had to bite his lip to keep from asking what was going on, because he didn't want to ruin this. He didn't want to give Perkins any way to gain the upper hand here. At long last, Niles put the phone away and smiled pleasantly.

"Sorry, I just had to make sure I was giving an accurate physical description to my staff," Niles continued, his tone amiable and perfectly reasonable... but there was something about his wording that put Perkins on edge.

"Your staff? What, have you got professional babysitters or something?" Perkins tried, but it sounded weak, even to Gavin's ear. 

"Babysitter? Well, no, that would be silly. But I do have a private bodyguard... ex-military, hates homophobes. So I'd highly suggest staying at least ten feet from me at all times, or he is lawfully authorised to subdue you," Niles explained, casually looking over to the man who had subtly positioned himself near the door after receiving Niles' message.

Perkins weighed him up visually, trying to figure out how he could get one-up in this situation, but it was no good. He sneered, giving a little snort of derisive laughter before starting to back away. "Whatever. You can't hover around Gavin Reek all day, and I don't need to be less than ten feet away to tell everyone what you are."

"What? That I'm gay? No need, quite open about it actually," Niles beat him to the mark, resting his elbow on the table, and using the back of his hand to prop up his chin in a cutesie gesture. "Tell whoever you like, but please remind them that I'm not on the market at the moment. Unless Gavin turns out to be straight, my sights are very much set."  
Gavin almost choked, having to replay the words over in his mind a few times before they really stuck. Niles was gay, and open about it, and he liked Gavin...  
Holy shit.

Perkins hovered, waiting for Gavin to out himself so that he could use it as a weapon, but the bodyguard at the door started to move closer and Perkins moved on, acting as though nothing had happened. But it had. Niles had stood up for Gavin and won... granted, there would inevitably be rumours about them, speculation, people may even start calling Niles a spoiled brat or try to criticize him for the way he had used his wealth to push someone around. But Gavin knew the truth. Niles hadn't done it for a power trip, he had done it to protect Gavin... to make his life just a little bit easier to endure.  
When he was sure they were alone, Niles turned to look at him; his expression was softer now, more vulnerable. He had exposed a lot about himself in a short amount of time and now he was looking to Gavin for reassurance, for some kind of sign that he was safe to talk about this stuff around him.  
"Did you mean what you said? Or was that just a way to get Perkins off my back?" Gavin asked, half convinced that it must have been a trick.

"No, I meant it... I hope that's ok. You don't have to... If you're not interested, we can still be friends," Niles backpedalled slightly, starting to look worried.

Gavin reached for his hand under the table and squeezed it slightly, watching the tension leave him almost instantly. "I am... interest, I mean. I like you too."

Niles smiled openly and Gavin was pretty convinced that he'd never seen anything so beautiful in his whole damned life.


End file.
